Early life
William Mack was born on the 16
th of February 1755 in
Old Monkland (an old parish near
Coatbridge and Airdrie in Scotland); his father was named as
William Mack but his mother's name is not known.
Note the different birth date offered below (see
Unverified Details) which I discount because it would have made him 14 years older than his wife and 40 when his first son was born. Also note that a William Mack was born to a James Mack and Christian Black on the 10th Feb 1745 at Airdrie/New Monkland which I discount because of the father's name (i.e. James, rather than William).
Career
William was a solicitor in
Airdrie, setting up a firm called
Wotherspoon & Mack in partnership with his brother-in-law. He also became the 1st Provost of Airdrie. The following quote is taken from
L_1923_03_Scott_Burn-Murdoch_01:
From Statistical Account of Scotland of 1845, Volume VI., Page 36, Parish of Old Monkland3
The average ranges of the thermometer and barometer in this district are pretty well known. The particulars have been carefully selected and arranged from a journal of the weather, kept by the late William Mack, Esq. of Fruitfield, and submitted to the author’s inspection by Mr Mack’s son, John Mack, Esq., of Bellefield. The observations are daily and the period included is from Jan. 1799 to 1826, about 27 years.
Then follows three pages of weather statistics.
Old Monklands or West Monklands, was in the Presbytery of Hamilton and Synod of Glasgow.
Regarding his time as Provost of Airdrie (1821-1823) the following is taken from the
Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser of October 1935
5:
The Provosts of Airdrie, 1821-1914
I - William Mack, NP, JP, of Fruitfield
1821-1823
The Act for erecting Airdrie into a Burgh was passed on 28th of May 1821..."Whereas the Town of Airdrie has of late years greatly increased in extent and population, it has become expedient and necessary that a regular Magistracy be established for the preservation of peace and good order, etc, and to have it erected into a free and independent Burgh".
At a meeting of the first Town Council of Airdrie, held in the Mason's Lodge, High Street, on 28th June, 1821, the principal item on the agenda was the appointment of Provost and Bailies
"They made the choice of men to guide their feet,
Men from themselves - sagacious and discreet,
And as their civic chief placed Airdrie's sage -
Old William Mack of venerable age."
...
The Macks of Fruitfield had a long and honourable connection with Airdrie, dating back to the early years of the 18th century. I am unable, however, to find any information of the family anterior to the period when the father of Provost Mack was Land Steward on Airdrie and Rochsolloch Estates. His son, William Mack, of Fruitfield, our first Provost, was born in the reign of King George the Second. He was, therefore, a lad when General Wolfe captured Quebec; a young man when Napoleon, Wellington and our own Robert Burns were born. He had reached man's estate when Britain lost North America as a colony; was in middle life at the time of the French Revolution, when Nelson fought Aboukir and fell at Trafalgar in the zenith of his glory.
Truly, it must be said, Provost Mack was a remarkable man. He received a liberal education and was destined for the legal profession. He served the usual apprenticeship in the office of Alexander Brown, writer, in Airdrie, was duly admitted a notary public by the Lords of Council and Session, and commenced practice in the town. He must have been in business before 1776, for in that year we find him appointed Clerk to the Heritors, Collector of Cess, and other public offices. For over half a century he occupied a prominent place in the communal life of Airdrie. A man of strong convictions and wide experience of affairs, he exercised a magnetic influence over a singularly intelligent and well-living people. His sincerity of purpose and genial personality earned for him not only their confidence, but their affection, for he had at all times been to them a guide, philosopher, and friend. Such was his knowledge of Airdrie and New Monkland that he was entrusted with the preparation of the first statistical account of the Parish in 1793, which bears traces of much research and discloses much valuable data.
...
Long before the working of coal became general in the town he sank on his property of Mackston, immediately to the east of his residence at Fruitfield, a pit shaft, from which coal was raised to the surface without a windlass or other mechanical contrivance. This was what was known as a stair pit, fitted with ladders, by means of which women brought up coal on their backs in creels or baskets. He also took a keen interest in horticulture and fruit raising, his extensive and prolific orchard at Fruitfield being known far and wide.
...
Provost Mack had a large family. Three of his sons followed their father's profession. John, the first Town Clerk of Airdrie; Gillies Mack, a member of the Faculty of Procurators of Glasgow; and Aitchison Alexander Mack, who qualified as a writer to the Signet in Edinburgh. The youngest member of the family, a daughter [presumably Elisabeth Mack, b1797], died at Springfield, Clarkston, about sixy years ago at a very advanced age, succeeded by her nephew, the late Dr William Mack, MD, JP, whose representatives may still be traced.
It is recorded that Provost Mack was reading through the Holy Bible for the one hundred and twentieth time [see the letter quoted above too] when he was called to a higher sphere, after a few days illness. The last marking in his own handwriting will be found in these words, namely: "1826, April 11th, finished reading through the Old and New Testaments 118th time.".
...
The old mansion house of Fruitfield, with all its picturesque surroundings, was demolished over sixty years ago and on its site was erected the existing commodious villa built by the late Bailie William Shanks, and now the property of Mr Aitken, the well-known ironmonger and motor agent....I cannot do better than conclude this reference to [Fruitfield] and the Mack family by giving the following quotation from "Airdrie, a Historical Sketch" by Sir James Knox:
"Fruitfield House was one of the oldest family residences in Airdrie. The mansion was a delightful old-world place. The beech trees in its policies were very stately, and there was a simple grandeur even in its offices. The mansion house itself was actually two buildings of different periods - one front, the other rear. The rear had originally been the front and looked into what was a spacious walled orchard. It is not known who built this house or when it was erected. There was the date of 1724 on a sun-dial which stood in the garden. The old residence is supposed to have been the Dower House of Airdrie Estate."
Family life
William married
Jean Gillies. I've not found the marriage record but it must have been between 1776 and 1779, given that William was born in 1755.
FamilySearch indicates that there is no marriage data pre-1790, unfortunately. William and Jean had the following children:
- William Gordon, born 1780, a solicitor in Glasgow who married Christina Kelly
- James Douglas, born 1782
- John Hamilton, born 1785, a solicitor in Airdrie who married Christina Steele
- Gillies, born 1788
- Jean, born 1791
- Robert, born 1795 and who married Margaret Pollock
- Elisabeth, born 1797
- Aitcheson Alexander, born 1802 who married Martha White
A letter
2 from William to his eldest son
William Gordon Mack, dated 6
th November 1823 (when William senior would have been 68), reads as follows:
Airdrie, Nov 6th 1823
My dear son,
I received yours of yesterday and am exceedingly sorry to hear of Mrs Mack being ill, and the rest of the family. I hope they will all soon get better. My giddiness still continues and I believe it will continue for life. I am also racked with rheumatism. But why should a living man complain, I am very deaf of late and my sight very ill and I can get no glasses that are of any use. I can only read a little in a clear day, and I feel this the most severe trial I ever met with as reading was always my greatest relief and entertainment. I have read the old and new testament regularly one hundred and six times. And begun the 107th time but I doubt I will finish it if my eyes do not get stronger. But I desire to submit with patience and resignation to every dispensation of God’s good providence whether prosperous or adverse. I have enclosed a prayer. Had I been in better health it might have been better composed. God grant us all the spirit of prayer & supplication.
Jeanie has been very ill of late with a stomach complaint, but she is now up again and deemed out of danger. All the rest of the Mack family are well and join in best wishes and prayers for Mrs Mack and the family their speedy recovery. I am, my dear son, your loving father,
Mr Mack
Residences
- Fruitfield: This was a property in the middle of Airdrie (just off the High Street, SW of East Church); it was roughly here and can be seen in this 1864 map of Lanarkshire as well as this 1832 map. In OS1/21/1/20 it is described as "A superior dwellinghouse with office and garden attached.".
Unverified Details
The following is taken from the
North Lanarkshire Archives1:
William Mack was born in 1740, the son of the land steward of the Airdrie & Rochsolloch Estate, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. He trained as a lawyer and built up a flourishing legal and factorial practice in Airdrie. The firm was called Wotherspoon & Mack. Mr Wotherspoon was William Mack’s sister’s husband4. William Mack married Jean Gillies (b. 1756, d. 1836) and they had 8 children (6 sons and two daughters). The family home was Fruitfield, adjacent to what is now known as the "Top Cross" in Airdrie, known as "Airdrie Cross" in the 18th century. William Mack was an important figure in the town of Airdrie and the Parish of New Monkland in the late 18th and early 19th century. He was the first Provost of the Burgh of Airdrie, serving in that post from 1821 until 1823. He died in 1826.
John Hamilton Mack was the third son of William Mack and Jean Gillies. He joined his father in the legal practice in Airdrie. He was the first Town Clerk of the Burgh of Airdrie, holding that office from 1821 until 1833. He married Christian Steele, the daughter of one his father's clients, John Steele of Bellside.
Christian (later Christina) Steele was the illegitimate daughter of John Steele and his servant Mary Hamilton, born c.1813. John Steele inherited the small estate of Bellside (also called the Lands of South Shaws) from his father, William Steele, in 1817. In 1818, John Steele arranged for Christina to inherit all his wealth in the event of his death (in a Deed of settlement written by William Mack and witnessed by John Hamilton Mack). This was unsuccessfully challenged by John Steele's married sister after his death in 1830.
Christina Steele married John Hamilton Mack, probably sometime in the early 1830s. They had three children: William Mack (born 1835), Christina Mack (b. 1839) and John Steele Mack (b. 1843). Christina Steele died in 1874. (J.H. Mack died sometime between 1842 and 1867.)
William Mack and John Steele Mack both studied at Glasgow University and became medical doctors. In 1874, Dr William Mack MD inherited his mother's estate with the stipulation that he pay sums of money to his brother and sister. From 1878 onwards he lived at Springfield in Airdrie. Springfield was a small estate bought by his grandfather, William Mack of Fruitfield, with a house built on by his unmarried aunt, Jane Mack, who'd died in 1876. In 1880, Dr William Mack married
Elizabeth Johnston. They had three children: Agnes Howie Mack, Christina Steele Mack and John Hamilton Mack (died young). Dr William Mack died in 1897. Mrs Elizabeth Mack died in 1926. Agnes Howie Mack married James Ross Stevenson. Agnes Rennie Ross Stevenson, the compiler of the 1985 family history, was their daughter. She doesn't appear to have married.
Christina Steele Mack married (1) a Mr Oliver and (2) Patrick [Rankin] Alston. A daughter, Mary Alston married a Mr Harland.
Note that this account has William born in 1740, 15 years before the records that I have.
Death
William Mack died on the 4
th of June 1826.
Miscellaneous to review
-
https://www.culturenlmuseums.co.uk/story/spinning-and-weaving/
-
https://books.google.ae/books?id=W_JQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA335&lpg=PA335&dq=william+mack+fruitfield&source=bl&ots=VzeRwCdcFy&sig=ACfU3U0-H4T416dcjzkZ5KfoUl5GfLi2Eg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj2i8eSq8nxAhUD6RoKHd4zCfQQ6AEwDnoECAIQAw#v=onepage&q=william%20mack%20fruitfield&f=false
Footnotes
[1]
https://culturenl.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/North-Lanarkshire-Archives-List-of-Collections.pdf
[2] L_1823_11_Mack_Mack_1
[3] See
https://books.google.ae/books?id=52Y23wYavRUC&lpg=PA636
[4] Interestingly, there is a marriage record for a William Mack and a Jonet Wotherspoon on the 11 Mar 1764, in East Kilbride. Must just be a coincidence.
[5]
Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser, 5 October 1935, page 3
1755 - 1826 (71 years)
[1, 2] 
